all things considered

monday has arrived and the setting is salt lake city, utah. the past three days have been spent driving from omaha, nebraska, where our last event was held.

there is nothing special about the city omaha, which makes me sad to report. the only glimmer of hope for the omahanians is nebraska football; it begins next week. this will probably be the only exciting on-going event of the year. from omaha we drove straight to fort collins, colorado. the drive was a bit exhausting, the scenery flat. the only thing i know about ft. collins is that the "new belgium brewery" is located here.
and that is still the only thing i know. the true tragedy about my visit to this town was the fact that the brewery was closed when we got there.

makes me sad to think about it again.

from ft. collins we drove to ogard, utah where we stayed at this hotel called the "ben lomond". this brick building with all of its fourteen floors gave me the creeps from the moment i stepped inside. maybe it was the rickety wooden elevator, or possibly the faded burgundy flower-pattern carpet and its peachy colored walls; i really don't know, but this place was cut straight out from an alfred hitchcock movie. all along the walls, black and white pictures of western men gathered together holding different varieties of farming tools and rifles.

an hour later, jessica googled our hotel and uncovered some interesting facts.
in its history of existence, the lomond was the following:

a bank
a boarding school
a brothel
oh, and it is also said to be  ...HAUNTED.

anywho, my night at the "ben lomond" went by without a paranormal encounter. still, the place gave off some twisted vibes.

the morning after, which was today, we drove to antelope island where we saw wild bison.
we kept driving around the island seeing these huge beasts and all i kept thinking about was how they tasted. was their meat tough? soft? gamey?

we drove to the only place in the island where they sold bison burgers, but after walking to the front door, we couldn't believe it. it must have been two in the afternoon and the place was closed!
that was pretty much it, the rest of the day was uneventful.

now, on this plane, i'm surrounded by kind hearted mormons who are about to journey all over the world for their two year mission trip. i spoke with elder stuckey and we had an interesting conversation about theology. i heard him out, and learned some new things about the church of mormon. in the end, i spoke about the difference between the bible and the book of mormon, and most importantly the difference between the Jesus that i believe in, and that of his. fumbling through four books, stuckey kept looking for different passages and all i kept thinking about was, "wow" this kid is only 19 years old.

the initial descent is right around the corner and all i can say is that these past two weeks have been amazing. i've learned new skills, met some old friends, heard some good artists, all while getting paid! not bad in my book. but i do miss my familia un chingo! can't wait to see them :)

more lightning

nebraska welcomes us :)

someone decided to turn on the strobe lights.

bloody wednesday in the ozarks

i'm still trying to digest the events of the last 48 hours, but i know that it'll take a while.  the pack of cigarettes on the pavement or maybe that lone sandal next to a purse scattered of its contents has broken the vcr inside my head leaving it stuck in replay. amarillo seems like such a long time ago. the drive eastward was going great, we had just zipped right through texas and oklahoma. i'd never spent time with andrew and jessica before this tour. luckily they're both very laid back people, which is great since we were about to spend much time together.

a couple of miles after passing the arkansas border, we took our two-car caravan up the scenic route on highway 16, which happens to cut through the ozarks. driving through this heavily wooded area, i began to get this strange feeling. we were pretty much the only ones driving though this desolate road. around and round we went on this hazy road huddled by ancient trees with thick sacks of cobwebs hanging from below its limbs. luckily we still had about 3 hours of sunshine, which gave us a good blend of darkness and light. the windows were down, moonroof open, it was just us, the road, and the loud sounds of the forrest. we passed a eerie town which was the only sign of civilization on highway 16 before we had our fateful encounter.

I'm still trying to figure out whether I saw the body first or the totaled montero sport. peripherally, I think I saw the body first because as soon as i entered that curve to the left, i saw the lifeless body on the pavement but since we were descending down the mountain, the wreck aligned in my vision. chris and mike drove past the mangled steel and countless keystone ice cans and pulled up next to the woman's body. mike quickly jumped out of the car and stooped down low to listen for any signs of life or faint breathing. chris walked towards the suv to see if there were any other passengers.

my knuckles coiled the steering wheel. i began to get that feeling similar to that of the beginning of a roller-coaster. the fear that i felt wasn't based on whether she was dead, but more on the possibility that she might be alive. i backed the car into a ditch on the side of the road. all three of us got out of the car into the hot and humid air of the ozarks. we looked at mike and he looked right back signaling that she was gone. jessica's hand began to shake a bit, she covered her mouth as her eyes began to water. andrew stood quiet as he wrapped his arm around her.

with hands and feet completely drenched in sweat, i decided to look inside the mangled suv. on the ground i noticed a chunk of brown hair, the wind was moving it slowly across the pavement. there were so many cans of beer along with the woman's purse, pills, and other personal items. the sound of crunching glass was all i heard and the smell of beer and alcohol became stronger as i got closer to the wreck. i looked inside but i don't remember anything because as soon as i peered inside, a loud burst of white noise blared out of the suv's speakers. i jumped backwards with my heart in my hand.

i walked back towards our group and the suv belched out another loud noise. we decided that we were to stay with the body until help arrived. our 911 calls were useless since there was no reception. i was about to jump on the car and drive back on the road we had just driven on when we heard the sound of choppers. 3 bikers were coming down the road. they rode right past the dead woman; none of them seemed affected by the sight, like if it were just another roadkill. we explained to the bikers that we were the first ones on the scene and they said that they would alert the local authorities a few miles ahead.

a few minutes went by when we finally heard the faint sound of an ambulance. i have no idea why but i felt compelled to see the woman's body. past the beer cans, past the suv, her corpse laid parallel of the road. all of her limbs were intact, although she did have many broken fingers and toes. her face was severely torn, and the right side of her head had a massive gash. i kept thinking in my head that this was all fake, someone was playing some sick joke on us and that this would all be over, but that wasn't the case. it was all real. i looked back and saw the faces of my friends and the woman's belongings on the floor, herself on the floor; everything was surreal. the ambulance finally came and we decided to leave.

we drove off, but not before andrew snapped this shot of the woman covered in a white sheet.

drinking and driving is not a good idea people. that's all

the southwest, yay!

sprinkles of lightning lined the east as the sun sunk back west. the last 48 hours have been spent inside a toyota corolla slicing through south western desert trying figure out the meaning of life(no, not really). during these next 2 weeks i'll be living in-between hotels and in this 4-door japanese machine. flagstaff, az was our first stop, and now we're in glamorous amarillo, tx. the only thing i know about amarillo is that a huge tornado touched down not so long ago. the weather has been ok so far, but we got a quick taste of how easily mother nature can change her mood. i'm excited about this trip, i've spent so much time discovering other countries that i've forgotten how vast mine actually is. and vast it is; from petrified forests out in the middle of nowhere to weird oscallating red lights stretching from miles, there are some crazy weird things hapenning in our southwest that we probably will never know exists. well, here goes texas!

maui with kin

the bright spectrum over the horizon is quickly waning as we zoom westward towards stateside. and with it, the end of my weekend getaway in maui. this trip has been nothing short of perfect. no itinerary made, no concrete plans. only a flight, car, and hotel reservation.

this trip was made more special because i was able to bring my sister stephanie with me. in all this time that i've had these special flight privileges, i haven't really taken my sister to a remarkable destination as maui. she had a blast; also due to the fact that her boyfriend, andy-who is one of my best friends- also came.

3 nights, 4 days. we filled this weekend with as much activity we could find. it felt great because it didn't feel rushed. we pretty much woke up, looked at the map and drove: the road to hana, 2 mile hikes up 400ft waterfalls, red sand beaches, and much much slacking.

next week i officially switch to full-time at work so trips like these will be a bit tough. i'll still make them happen but they will have to be more "planned"